Zoo must take blame for shooting of gorilla

Yet again, captivity has taken an animal's life. The latest victim is a 17-year-old gorilla named Harambe, who was gunned down after a young boy managed to crawl through a fence before falling into his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Yet again, captivity has taken an animal's life. The latest victim is a 17-year-old gorilla named Harambe, who was gunned down after a young boy managed to crawl through a fence before falling into his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Of course, we'll never know what would have happened if the zoo hadn't shot Harambe, but we do know that if he hadn't been locked up to serve as a high-earning living exhibit, this incident would never have occurred.

We also know that most zoos don't have reintroduction programmes - which means that if Harambe had not been gunned down on Saturday, he would eventually have died in his cell in Ohio, thousands of miles from where he belonged.

Zoos put the con in "conservation" by hoodwinking the public into believing that something meaningful is being done for these animals, when the salvation of endangered species lies in habitat conservation - not a life spent behind bars.